Amendments to the Fuel Margin Limitation Ordinance and Regulation No. 80/2026 introduce lower margin caps and extend reduced mineral oil tax rates on petrol and diesel through 31 May 2026.
The Austrian government has approved amendments affecting both fuel margin limits and mineral oil tax reductions, extending relief measures through the end of May 2026.
Under the revised Verordnung zur Margenbegrenzung bei Treibstoffen, issued on the basis of the Price Act, margin limitation amounts in § 3 Abs. 1 will be reduced from 5 Eurocents to 2.5 Eurocents per litre with effect from 15 May 2026. The amendment also introduces a new provision in § 4 allowing a Durchschnittsbetrachtung (average observation approach) where product listings fluctuate within the stages defined in § 3 Abs. 5.
Further changes include an update to § 3 Abs. 2, incorporating the reduced margin thresholds and requiring per-litre adjustments to be implemented “ehestmöglich”. Certain references to listing benchmarks have been removed. In addition, the validity period set out in § 5 Abs. 1 has been extended from 30 April to 31 May 2026. The amended ordinance entered into force upon announcement and will expire on 31 May 2026.
Separately, the government has prolonged the temporary reduction of the mineral oil tax on petrol and diesel under an amendment to Regulation No. 80/2026. The measure, initially applied from 1 April to 30 April 2026 at a reduction of EUR 0.05 per litre, is extended to 31 May 2026.
For the extended period, the mineral oil tax is reduced by EUR 0.05 per litre from 1 May to 15 May 2026, and by EUR 0.025 per litre from 15 May to 31 May 2026. The policy aims to pass on to consumers additional VAT-related revenue arising from higher fuel prices.
